Kettle's Yard and other Cambridge delights

This weekend I returned to my educational homeland of Cambridge. It's three years since I graduated and there have been times where it's just confusing to go back there because not a lot has matched Cambridge since I left. But this time I felt all the youthful optimism and a proud territoriality I had in that blissful naivety of student days.

king's college, cambridge

I went to visit Kettle's Yard which is an art gallery and exhibition space. It's an amazingly tranquil and relective place, great for students and weary tourists alike. It was donated to the University of Cambridge byJim and Helen Ede. Kettle's Yard house was their house and that's what makes it so special. It has the feeling that you're in someone's house as though everything lays untouched. As well as their art collection it houses their home including trinkets and treasures collected along the way. The art collection includes Alfred Wallis, Christopher Wood, David Jones and Joan Miro, and sculptures by Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Constantin Brancusi, Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth. It's fascinating to see the art in a 'real life' setting and it adds a dimension to it that is lost in so many galleries. It shakes off the austerity of formal art spaces.
Museum staff were some elderly ladies who looked rich in stories and wisdom and added to the quaint charm. I was dutifully informed we could sit in any of the chairs and read the books in the library. I also went to see the current exhibition by Tim Head- Raw Material.

Gaudi Brezka - 'The Dancer'

kettle's yard

bookshelf in a chair

chair, kettle's yard

There's also a captivating piece of willow tree, it was hit by lightning on the river cam and the singed remains resemble an old man.

I recommend Local Secrets if you're heading to Cambridge for recommendations of cool restaurants, shops and things to do.

My personal recommendations include:

1- Trockel Ulmann und Freunde A german cafe just out of the centre, amazing hot chocolate with fresh cream, coffee, home-made cakes (like blackberry, chocolate and nut and orange and almond) and soups.  And the cherry on the proverbial cake is some sumptuous decor.

2- The Zoology Museum see some of Darwin's samples from his time in Cambridge to the Beagle voyage, also see fossils and skeletons of a giant sloth, ichthyosaurus, elephants, antelopes etc etc.

3- The Rainbow Cafe great veggie and vegan restaurant

4- Punting along the river cam, take the lesser travelled route to Granchester...

5- The Orchard at Granchester ponder under the apple trees like Rupert Brooke, Virginia Woolfe, Watson & Crick, Wittgenstein, Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath

6- The Empress pub go to feed the miniture pet pigs in the beer garden and enjoy the year round countdown to Xmas

7- Mill Road The road less travelled, great international supermarkets, restaurants like 196 meze bar, cafes like the black cat cafe and CB1, and other weird and wonderful things

8-Jesus Green Lido the longest lido in Europe, good for a summer dip if you're scared of wild river swimming in the Cam

9-The Round Church it's a church, and it's round.Pretty cool.

10- The Wren Library. I've said it before I'll say it again. It is amazing. See some original Winnie the Pooh manuscripts alongside Newton's Principia and Wittgenstein's notebooks. All housed in the Library designed by Sir Christopher Wren. Literary Heaven.

I could go on and on. But I won't unless you're interested. I'll end by saying it is way better than Oxford. Obviously.

Books off the Bookshelves

I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves ~Anna Quindlen

Recently, I felt a little uncomfortable when I was drawn to this book sitting on a shelf in the bookshop. I was drawn to it but I didn't really know why. The blogosphere however tells me there's quite a few people interested in the beauty of bookshelves. A good bookshelf turns a house into home and makes the occupier a lot more interesting in my eyes.

The book was Books Do Furnish a Room and I felt that if I ever design a house....One day. One day....I would definitely make books a focal point. Sometimes, when people look at my books I feel they are seeing a little window into my soul. I find myself explaining my books, justifying and backtracking. It's the same with a music collection. Beware the power of the iPod. It's often slightly momentous for me when I recommend a book to someone or tell them of a book I've really enjoyed.

Seeing this book coincided with a programme I saw that featured Ron Arad talking about his new design and architecture exhibitioin Restless at the Barbican. Design and architecture really speaks to me, I think because it is practical and useful but beautiful at the same time. I'm a very pragmatic and organising sort of person. Ron Arad famously designed the BookWorm bookshelf, a book shelf you can mould into pretty much any shape. It's not overly useful in terms of storing a lot of books but it is a nice idea all the same.

Ceiling Bookshelf, Apartment Therapy (c)

This ceiling bookshelf is extremely space savvy. I think the idea is that about 90% of books you own don't get used a lot. I really like this idea of using the ceiling. You'd need high ceilings, and not to use your books too often.

bibliochaise

I love this bibliochaise, although it doesn't look like the comfy all-encompassing chair you might imagine whilst spending several hours reading your book, but it is really fun. My attention span, in reality, is quite short so being able to reach for another book on whim is very appealing.

big comic shelf

This comic bookshelf by Oscar Nunez is also fun. It's a nice alternative to the plain white shelf.
In essence though, an entire wall-to-wall bookshelf is still my favorite. When I was studying in Cambridge I engaged in trying to use as many libraries as I could, not in a bookporn kind of geek-chic way, just to relieve the boredom of studying for hours on end.

Wren Library

Believe me, hearing the late night revellers on a Saturday night whilst sat in a dusty library isn't so fun. But I did love King's Library, the Zoology Library and Wren library (even though you can't study in that one).

Bookshelf by Gianni Botsford

This bookcase holds 16,000 books. It was designed by Gianni Botsford for his father. It’s almost as impressive from the outside of the house. It is absolute heaven to me.
One day…